NEWS AND NOTES (Through games of Thursday, March 1)
* The two hottest teams in the Mountain West meet in the regular-season finale on Saturday when No. 21/21 Nevada, winners of six straight games, plays at San Diego State, winners of five straight games.

* The Aztecs-Wolf Pack game will be broadcast nationally by CBS Sports Network and the contest can be heard on 101.5 KGB, XTRA Sports 1360 and FOX Sports IE 1350.

* A San Diego State victory will guarantee the Aztecs of finishing in a tie for fourth-place in the MW standings.

* An Aztec win and a Wyoming loss at Boise State on Saturday will make SDSU the fifth seed in the MW tourney. In that scenario, the Aztecs would face the loser of the Fresno State at New Mexico game at 2:30 p.m. PT Thursday.

* Any other combination of outcomes on Saturday will leave the Aztecs as the six seed and SDSU will open play at 4 p.m. PT Wednesday against 11th-seeded San José State.

* Prior to the game, San Diego State will honor three senior student-athletes making their final appearance at Viejas Arena - Trey Kell, Malik Pope and Kameron Rooks.

* Kell, who has played in 129 career games and has 1,319 points, 491 rebounds and 299 assists, has been sensational of late. In the Brian Dutcher/Steve Fisher era, only Kell and Winston Shepard have generated at least the numbers above in those three categories. In the five games since returning from a left ankle sprain, he has 33 assists and just five turnovers. Since Feb. 14, he leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio 6.60-to-1 ratio (min. 5.5 assists per game) and is tied for 12th in assists per game (6.6 apg).

* Pope, who has played in 120 career games and has 1,042 points, 610 rebounds, 112 assists and 108 blocked shots, has already set season career highs in points, rebounds and blocked shots. Despite missing 15 games during his career, he is the only player in the Brian Dutcher/Steve Fisher era to produce at least those numbers in all four categories - points, rebounds, assists and blocked shots.

* SDSU has won 12 consecutive “Senior Day” games. The last time the Aztecs did not send their the seniors out with a victory was Feb. 28, 2005. That is the fifth-longest active streak in the nation trailing Kansas (35), UC Santa Barbara (19), Davidson (15) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (14).

* Rooks, who transfered to San Diego State prior to the season after earning his bachelor’s degree from California, has played in 23 games this season and made 11 starts for the Aztecs. San Diego State is 10-0 this season when he plays at least 12 minutes, with victory over No. 12 Gonzaga, Georgia and at San Diego.

* On Tuesday, San Diego State continued its best stretch of the season, extending its season-long win streak to five games with a 72-64 victory over Boise State. The Aztecs handed the Broncos their widest margin of defeat in a league game this season while limiting BSU to its lowest MW point total (64) and field-goal percentage (39.6 percent) of the year.

* San Diego State has outscored its opposition by a total of 79 points during its five-game win streak (15.8 ppg). Since Feb. 14, the Aztecs own the ninth-best scoring margin in the nation.

* Freshman Jalen McDaniels paced the Aztecs with 15 points and 10 rebounds. It was his eighth double-double of the season (SDSU 7-1 in those games) and gave the true freshman consecutive double-doubles for the first time in his career.

* Freshman Matt Mitchell reached double figures for a fourth straight game, scoring 11 points, on 4-of-5 shooting inside the arc, with three rebounds, three assists and three steals. In his last four games, he is averaging 15.3 points, while shooting 61.1 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from three-point range and an incredible 14-of-18 inside the arc (77.8 percent).

* A freshman has now led San Diego State in scoring in each of the last four games (Jalen McDaniels 2, Matt Mitchell 2). In the last 10 seasons, only once have the Aztecs put together a longer stretch of games with freshmen leading the team in scoring. From Dec. 7-30, 2015, SDSU were paced by freshman for five consecutive games (Jeremy Hemsley 4, Zylan Cheatham 2, once Hemsley and Cheatham tied for game-high honors). It is worth noting, that SDSU is a perfect 4-0 in the current stretch led by the freshmen, while the Aztecs were 3-2 during the 2015 stretch.

* San Diego State is 8-8 in its last 16 games against teams in the AP Top 25 at game time. Since Nov. 29, 2013, the Aztecs are tied with Iowa State and Oklahoma for the 13th-best winning percentage (.500) against AP Top 25 teams.

* At home, SDSU is 10-5 in its last 15 games against AP Top 25 foes.

* The Aztecs have won their last seven home games vs. AP Top 25 teams ranked outside the top seven nationally and has won their last three home games against AP Top 25 conference opponents regardless of rank.

* San Diego State has been particularly dominant at home of late. In addition to posting an 12-2 record at Viejas Arena this season and a 7-1 mark at home in league play, SDSU’s home conference scoring margin of +19.7 is easily tops in the MW. The Aztecs have won five straight home contests by margins of 19 (Colorado State), 31 (Air Force), 10 (Wyoming), 38 (UNLV) and 8 (Boise State).

* San Diego State is 16-2 this season when owning an advantage in FG percentage and 13-1 when attempting more free throws.